Kiarostami's Palme d'Or-winner at the 1997 Cannes film fest begins with a deceptively simple story about a man's (Ershadi) efforts to secure a burial sight in Tehran. But through the man's discussions with a solider (Moradi), an Islamic seminarian (Noori) and a taxidermist (Bagheri), among others, the film emerges as a moving meditation on death and one man's search for reasons to live.